Apuffcalypse
by dionysianDaydream
Summary: An entity known as evil incarnate makes his triumphant return to future Townsville, turning everything on its heels. Heroes, civillians and villains alike will have to join together to take back their city from the clutches of a fallen angel, a devil, a zombie horde, and four birds of prey from another world.


The city of Townsville is caught up in the middle of a war between siblings, and it seems like everyone has gathered to watch as streams of green and pink repeatedly zoom across the skyline. Even from a distance the bizarre lights, whenever they collide, produce intense sonic booms that shatter windows, unsuspecting eardrums and, whenever they take it too close to the ground, cause the earth to rumble until tiny cracks spiderweb across the once pristine streets and grow to become huge, gaping fissures.

From the crowd of stunned onlookers the blonde pigtailed Bubbles emerges, visibly distraught about her sisters duking it out over Townsville.

"Please stop fighting," she whimpers amidst the shocked gasps of the crowd, when the pink stream is sent barreling into a skyscraper.

_Why are you doing this, Buttercup?_

…...

Blossom tears through a window and a row of office cubicles before finally being stopped by, and almost buried beneath the debris of a collapsed wall. The lights flicker on and off as she pushes away a fallen chunk of the ceiling, then coughs up a mouthful of inky black blood into her hand.

_She's not holding back...at all, this time. _

Her vision is blurred as she surveys the impact of her loud entrance, tracing the trail of fallen office workers that lie dead in the wake of the destruction while the others scurry out into the hallway in a panic.

"Everyone who can still walk...go now," Blossom says between breaths. "I won't let her hurt you."

"That's big talk coming from someone who can barely stand, Blossom."

Her adversary appears, donning the same combat dress with a black stripe going across the middle of it as her sisters only hers has solid green stripes on either side of it instead of pink like Blossom, or Bubbles's blue.

Buttercup glides into the room through the gaping hole in the side of the once proud commercial tower, through which loose leaves of paper are sucked out by gusts of wind, and strands of her tomboy-short black hair whip against the sides of her face with wild abandon.

"Why haven't you healed yet? It's not as fun if I can't keep beating you up over and over again."

Blossom and Buttercup lock eyes, as the former struggles to maintain a strong appearance despite her crippling wounds. Ordinarily her regeneration powers would have taken hold by now, but at the moment she is too low on Chemical-X, the lifeblood of her and her sisters. She still had one ace up her sleeve, but she would not dare attempt using it before all of the civilians could manage to escape.

"If you don't stop this right now, Buttercup, you leave me with no other choice but to..."

Buttercup cuts her off with a loud laugh. "I can take anything you can dish out. Admit it, Blossom, I'm stronger than you!"

"Is that what this is all about?" Blossom growls through her bloody teeth. "You're putting the lives of hundreds, maybe thousands of innocent people at risk just so you can get me to admit you're stronger?"

Out of the corner of her eye, she watches apprehensively as the last few remaining civilians take to the stairwell.

"I always knew you had a dark side, but this time you've gone way too far."

"Stop acting like you know me!" Buttercup snarls as she strides toward her, flailing her arm dramatically. "You have no idea what I'm feeling. We were _born_ to fight, so it's stupid how ever since the Professor died-"

"Don't you dare bring up the Professor..." Blossom snaps, but is cut off by a sharp pain in her chest.

"If you won't listen to me, I'll just have to let my fists keep doing the talking!" Buttercup says as she rears her arm back for a punch, the pupils of both her eyes gleaming red. "You can't tell me what to do anymore!"

…...

Meanwhile, someone – or, judging by the green-skinned apelike face made visible by the glow of a computer monitor – some_thing_ has been watching the battle unfold in a dimly lit, far removed location the entire time.

This something laughs maniacally as Blossom unleashes her last resort attack; a snowy gale that completely washes over the lunging Buttercup, fills every corner of the room, and seeps outside through the gaping hole in the wall. Within seconds, layers of ice forms along the walls, the floor, overturned desks and the corpses of killed civilians alike like an unstoppable plague.

Buttercup, who stands directly in the path of Blossom's ice breath, does not even get a second to react.

"Oh, what power!" The spying Mojo Jojo declares, "That she would be able to employ such a decisive measure in her current state is _quite_ unexpected!"

He attempts another laugh, but this time his old age catches up with him and he is pulled into a coughing fit.

As much as he still felt like his old self: donning the same blue tunic he used to, the same huge white dome helmet with purple pinstripes to cover his exposed Chemical-X enhanced brain, and purple cape, nothing is so indicative of one's lost glory as an old belt that comes loose on its own accord depending on which way you sit.

"Curses! Must an old primate be denied his simple pleasures at every turn?"

He spins his chair so that he faces away from the computer console then coughs some more into the shadowy depths of his 'secret' laboratory. The lights were all turned low, just the way he liked it when 'checking in' on his old nemeses via one of the many cameras he has posted throughout the city.

"Those pesky Powerpuff girls," he mutters."I wonder if, after all these years, this could be their final hour? And defeated by each other, no less. How wonderful!"

Unbeknownst to him, a young woman is standing on an upstairs walkway that connects the two elevator entrances, leaning against the metal railing with a lit designer cigar propped up in her mouth.

"Did I interrupt something important, or are you just talking to yourself again?" She says with a sneer.

The ape man turns on the overhead lights by issuing a single voice command and returns her steely gaze.

Tall, slender, and perfectly tanned, Princess Morbucks looks more like a model than an leading figure of Townsville's thriving black market weapons trade. She wears an impeccable coat that covers her arms and most of her body down to her knees with white, occasionally brown speckled feathers, purple blue blocker shades with rectangular lenses, and a titanium shield plated golden leotard outfit with black high-boots and Kevlar threaded Egyptian cotton gloves. Her curly, dark ginger hair is pulled back tightly into two puffballs, and her forehead is topped by a solid gold crown featuring a red garnet jewel - more expensive than the rest of her look combined – glistening at its center.

"What are you doing in my private laboratory?" Mojo asks irritatedly. "That is to say, for what reason have you entered the premises of my personal research and development facility without my express-"

"Can it, monkey boy. My lab, my rules. You were supposed to be at the plant twenty minutes ago inspecting the new line of X-Rifles," she huffs, releasing a cloud of inhaled aromatic pink smoke from her nostrils like an angry beast before continuing, "but here you are, holed up in the lab spying on little girls again. I ought to fire you, Mojo."

"Your petty taunts are wasted on me! And, besides, you _know_ this is completely different for, as is always the case, I am not spying on just _any_ little girls, but the Powerpuff Girls! Perhaps it would pique your interest to know that Blossom and Buttercup are fighting, and the former has turned the tables on the latter by drawing upon the devastating might of her ice breath at the last minute!"

"You can't be serious! She's winning even after that bug of yours nearly sucked out all of her Chemical-X?"

"I am as surprised by this turn of events as you are," Mojo says with a shrug as he turns his attention back to the monitor. "In fact, I am a little disappointed. I had high hopes for Buttercup to win because of her incredible new abilities but, for crying out loud, she never even got the chance to-"

He stops when he realizes that Princess is no longer paying attention to him, rushing toward one of the elevators.

"Where are you going?"

"If that lousy Buttercup can't do the job," Princess whirls around and replies, as the elevator door slides open behind her, "I'll just have to finish Blossom off myself."

…...

Blossom touches the knuckle of Buttercup's clenched fist, which was frozen mere inches away from reaching her face. "I'm sorry," she says sadly.

Outside the hole in the wall, ominous gray clouds pollute the clear, blue summer sky. Soon snow would be on its way, all because she was a little reckless with her ice breath.

Oh, well, at least it won't hurt or kill anyone. Once again the day is saved, right?

_...only this time, at what cost?_

"Oh my gosh!" Bubbles flies in, gasping at the sight of her grievously wounded older sister limping toward her. "Blossom, are you okay? I knew I should have come sooner! But you told me not to..."

"This was between just me and Buttercup, and you know her...she wouldn't give up quietly. Not without leaving a few dents." If all she wanted was to prove she was the stronger of the two, Blossom felt she certainly made her point.

"Is she...dead?" Bubbles asks.

Blossom sighs wearily. The blank, innocent look on Bubbles's face made her want to lie and say that there was still even the slightest chance that Buttercup could be revived, but she could not bring herself to. Still, the truth was too brutal to profess aloud: that every drop, and every ounce of liquid within Buttercup's body had been frozen instantaneously in one smooth, efficient stroke. She was, by all accounts, dead.

"Never mind, that was a stupid question," Bubbles says after a while, surprising Blossom with a hint of a smile in spite of her sadness. "But if this is what it came to...I know there must have been no other option."

"Bubbles..." Blossom trails off, fainting in Bubbles's arms as a single tear rolls down her cheek then drifts to the frost-covered ground as a perfect snowflake.

_Maybe I could have listened to her._

…...

A sparkly white limousine weaves through streets crowded with frantic people and abandoned cars at a snail's pace, as the skyscraper with the busted wall on its 19th floor looms ahead, shrouded by swirling, misty clouds.

Princess Morbucks is in the backseat lounge gazing out the window vacantly when one of the local news crews filming a segment catches her attention. A familiar squint-eyed reporter wearing an obvious brown toupee is standing on the sidewalk next to a telephone pole that appears to have been snapped in half, with the upper part now leaning haphazardly against a gray stone apartment complex. She rolls her window down just low enough to listen in.

"I am standing here, in the aftermath of a fierce battle between Powerpuffs Blossom and Buttercup," the reporter says. "Several roads have been blocked off for repairs, and a spike in burglaries, fires and riot activity has been reported across town. The police have started cracking down, and a temporary state of martial law is in effect until stability in the streets can be restored and the situation at the Mend Life building has been resolved."

At the end of the street, the limo's progress is halted by a blockade of cement barriers. According to a police officer situated there, all of the roads leading into the city have been closed, but the heiress to the Morbucks fortune is not one to back down so easily.

With a groan Princess takes off her coat and, as she opens the limo door with a wallet full of bribes in the other hand, a red light on her watch starts flashing.

_What could he be calling about now?_

She stops and turns a silver dial on the side of it, the watch beeps, and Mojo Jojo's voice comes through as clearly as if he were talking to her face-to-face.

"Things just got interesting again," he says with a snicker.

…...

The sun begins to dim as the Townsville police force surrounds the base of the Mend Life tower. Floodlights are pointed at the hole through which all three girls had last been spotted flying through, but have not seen since. A light snowfall has everyone wearing their jackets on what should have been a warm summer evening.

"This has gone on long enough, girls," a police negotiator says over a loudspeaker. "I'm sure you want a peaceful resolution to all this as much as we do, so just come out slowly and maybe we can talk things out."

A lieutenant watching from the hood of his squad car grunts.

"A peaceful resolution, huh? Kind of late for that."

He reaches for the pack of gum sticking out of his back pocket when he notices a strange group of four people, all wearing clear white robes with the hoods drawn to cover their hair and eyes, are approaching the barricade.

"Hey, you can't go through here," he yells, scrambling, almost tripping up to get to them. "It's too dangerous!"

One of the hooded figures tilts his head slightly as he appraises the lieutenant silently with a pair of piercing gray eyes.

"Be at ease. My friends and I are just here to see the fireworks," he says in a slow, elegant manner. A few strands of vanilla-white reveal themselves as he rolls his head to the side innocently.

"If you don't bug us, we won't bug _you_, officer." Another one of them adds, showing a mischievous smile and a pair of dark, soulless eyes that stare unblinkingly from the shadows.

…...

Bubbles had noticed cracks forming along Buttercup's icy shell and, clinging to this one small hope that she was still alive within like a solitary flame in the darkness, she staid and watched even as Blossom lay unconscious beside her.

_Maybe it's not too late for everything to go back to normal!_

Gradually, whole chunks of ice began to chip away; first from her arms, then her body, and finally her face, but it was at that Bubbles could tell something was wrong.

"Buttercup, you're okay! But, what's wrong with your eyes?"

Her emerald green pupils were gone, so that her eyes were like two gaping white voids as she growled and snarled incomprehensibly.

"Why are you...?"

"You silly girl, can't you tell that your sister isn't here anymore?"

Bubbles gasps, backing away slowly.

"What are you saying?"

Buttercup's mouth stretches to form an evil grin, and the white of her eyes turns to a sinister shade of red.

"Oh come now," what sounded like several different voices speaking in unison hissed through Buttercup's teeth in a playful tone. "All I did was give her a slight push, and a new trick or two."

"You're not Buttercup! You're-"

She didn't even need to say it. Clearly her sister had been possessed by _Him_; a malevolent trickster deity of unkown origin and scourge of Townsville if there ever were one, as well as a long-time adversary of the Powerpuff Girls.

Just then, as if sensing her sister was in peril, Blossom's eyelids drew open slowly.

"Bubbles, it's all up to you now...you have to finish her off now, while she's still frozen. The entire city is depending on you."

"But I can't, Blossom," Bubbles cries. "I won't let it end like this."

_There has to be another way._

"Don't listen to her, Bubbles. It's obvious she's been holding us back since day one." Buttercup, now speaking with a _Him-_distorted version of her regular voice, laughs coldly. "She wanted us to live like ordinary girls, but never even gave us a choice. We were born with special powers for a reason...to use them, duh!"

"If you let her go, she'll kill both of us." Blossom's head is drooping at an unnatural angle – almost upside down – as she props herself up on one elbow. "Then nothing can stop _Him_ from terrorizing Townsville."

_No..._

_I never wanted this to happen..._

_We're sisters, so we shouldn't hurt each other... _

_To have to make a choice like this is..._

_I..._

…...

"I'm at the tower now," Princess reports into her watch as the limo pulls up to the curb amidst crowds of stunned and confused onlookers. A news crew is off to the side doing a segment featuring people that had escaped from the tower during the battle.

"Mojo, are you still there?"

"Yes I am, but something not dissimilar to a miracle has just occurred in what had appeared to be a clean victory on the side of-"

"Hold that thought." She disconnects. "It'll be _much_ faster to just see for myself."

Sticking one high-heeled foot out of the limo, she nearly slips in a clump of freshly fallen snow.

"This'll be the last time she uses her ice breath," she mumbles then, looking around, she spots the group of hooded characters still chatting with the same police officer from before.

_How dare they show themselves again at a time like this!_

In a fury, she pulls out the dual laser pistols tucked at her sides and fires them several times in the air.

People quickly flee in terror until all that's left is her, the hoods, and a bunch of angry cops scrambling for cover while bringing out their own arsenal of weapons.

All the hoods turned to face her without so much as flinching.

"Mojo's been really lonely ever since you and your cronies decided to leave us, Swan."

The hood with the gray eyes took a step forward calmly, holding his arms out to contain his allies, who grew tense at the mentioning of his name.

"I wish we could talk more, but these aren't the best circumstances. Something big is about to happen, and we are glad that you made it here in time."

"In time for what?"

Princess ignored the multiple red lasers aimed at her by the police officers as she waited for an answer.

It was an answer that would never come.

A black pulse of raw, earth-shattering power was released from the Mend Life tower in that instant, and it swallowed the entire City of Townsville in a giant explosion that changed everything forever.

So it was, so abruptly, that the Apuffcalypse came to being.


End file.
